Cops: Towamencin man nabbed for drinking then driving all over the roadway with three kids in car

TOWAMENCIN — A Towamencin man is facing a DUI charge — as well as multiple counts of endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person, plus additional offenses — after police said he drove recklessly while under the influence of alcohol with his three young children in the car on Thursday afternoon.

Richard John Carickhoff, 44, of the 1300 block of Michael Way, was arraigned July 18 before District Judge Harold Borek of Lansdale on nearly a dozen criminal counts. Borek set bail at 10 percent of $10,000 cash, and Carickhoff was committed to Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bond.

Towamencin police said the incident began shortly before 5 p.m. on July 17, when officers were dispatched to the area of Forty Foot Road and Detwiler Road for a report of a red Audi that was “all over the roadway.”

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Officers spotted the vehicle and pulled it over in the parking lot of the Chick-fil-A on the 200 block of Forty Foot Road, at which point, police said, a young girl started to get out from the rear of the Audi and the driver, identified as Carickhoff, got out but then fell backwards into the car door.

Police observed that there were three children in the car, ranging in age from 3 to 8, and that no child car seats were installed in the vehicle; officers also said that Carickhoff reeked of alcohol and had glassy, bloodshot eyes.

After additional officers arrived at the scene, police instructed Carickhoff to put all of his children inside the vehicle and step away for questioning. Carickhoff denied drinking alcohol prior to driving or being on any medications, and when asked why he was so unsteady on his feet, he claimed that he “has a medical condition and his ankles hurt him,” though he later changed his story to a problem with his calves and said that he could not remember the name of his condition, according to police.

Officers attempted to conduct field sobriety tests but stopped after Carickhoff nearly fell over several times, then administered a portable breath test which indicated that he had consumed alcohol, police said, and Carickhoff was taken into custody.

While other officers waited on scene at the Chick-fil-A for the children’s mother to arrive and pick them up, Carickhoff was transported to an area hospital for a blood draw for lab testing, the results of which are pending, police said.

Officers also spoke to a witness who had initially reported Carickhoff’s alleged alarming driving, police said, and the witness said that Carickhoff blew a stop sign on Michael Way and crossed the double-yellow line on Keeler Road and Quarry Road several times while the witness followed the Audi and called police.

In addition to the DUI, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person charges, which are all graded as misdemeanors, Carickhoff is also facing three counts of summary improper child restraint system and one count of summary careless driving.

He’s due to return to Borek’s courtroom on July 31 for a preliminary hearing.

Records show Carickhoff is also due to be formally arraigned in county court on Aug. 13 on a pair of misdemeanor DUI charges stemming from an arrest by Towamencin police in March.

At a July 1 preliminary hearing before Borek, Carickhoff waived the two charges, and had charges of driving an unregistered vehicle, driving with a suspended license and operating a vehicle without valid inspection withdrawn by prosecutors.

Carickhoff was free while awaiting his formal arraignment in that case after Borek set bail as release on recognizance at the July 1 hearing; Carickhoff appeared in court that day on a summons, records show.

Follow staff writer Michael Goldberg on Twitter @mg_thereporter.

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to correct the middle name of Richard Carickhoff.